Production Code (1 gen 1934 anni – 1 gen 1968 anni)

Descrizione:

Although versions of it had flitted unsuccessfully in the film industry for a few years, the Motion Picture Production Code was officially in effect from 1934 and held out until 1968. The core principles of the Code were that no picture can lower the moral standards of those who see it, no law, natural or human, shall be ridiculed or violated, and correct standards of life shall be presented. According to the Code, preserving the presentation of correct standards meant the explicit prohibition of, among other things, “miscegenation”: sexual or romantic relationships between people who are of different races. This explicit exclusion prevented many Black stories from being made by the Hollywood machine, which only further entrenched detrimental narratives and stereotypes in the cultural zeitgeist. Not that there weren’t films being made by Indigenous or Black filmmakers; in fact, a genre emerged in early cinema of “race films” which were films made for Black audiences by Black filmmakers. Perhaps the most renowned director of this artform in this period was Oscar Micheaux, who directed and produced 44 films over the course of his career. This included Within Our Gates (1920), which gained notoriety for being one of the first and only films to openly expose and object to the racism prevalent in America. Although the film predates the Code, local censors pushed back against the film so strongly that few were able to openly explored racism in American film until several decades after.

Aggiunto al nastro di tempo:

Data: